Abstract: Presently the only way to obtain the flight data from an open ocean crash site is to physically retrieve the flight data recorder. Retrieving a flight data recorder from the sea floor is extremely complex and expensive, requiring remotely operated robotic devices to locate and then to physically bring a piece of wreckage to the surface. In some cases water depth may preclude any retrieval. In these cases the flight data recorder will not be recovered and the cause of the crash will never be known. What is needed, however, is not the flight data recorder but the flight data. The invention provides a safe, convenient and economical way to retrieve flight data from a submerged flight data recorder without having to physically retrieve the recorder hardware.